Slider buckle for straps and the like

ABSTRACT

A slider buckle in which the buckle is fixed to one end of the strap and has a structure defining two windows into which the free end of the strap is inserted and fixed.

United States Patent [151- 3,672,007 Steinberg et al. [45] June 27, 1972 [54] SLIDER BUCKLE FOR STRAPS AND 724,585 4/1903 Kerngood ..24/193 THE LIKE 1124,071 10/1955 White ..24/194 89 ,3 ..24 l 1 [72] Inventors: Adalberto Steinberg, Via Angelo Inganni 6 59 8/1908 Buchanan 9 s" i m o b th WI 1 1 3,162,916 12/1964 Mel-[ugh ..24/198 Y 3,277,543 10/1966 Gaylord ..24/193 [22] Filed: June 29, 1970 724,585 4/1903 Kemwood ..24/ 193 1 1 pp ,665 FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 279,651 3/1913 Germany ..24/194 [30] Foreign Application Priority Data 701,193 12/1953 Great Britain ..24/196 July 1 19 9 Italy A/69 1,094,285 5/1955 France ..24/194 52 u.s. c1 ..24/196 Primary Examiner-Paul Gilliam s 1 1 1111. C1. ..A44b 11/10 Attorney-Guido Modiano and Albert Josif [58] Field ofSearch ..24/144, 197, 188, 193, 196,

24/200 [57] ABSTRACT A slider buckle in which the buckle is fixed to one end of the [56] Rderences Cited strap and has a structure defining two windows into which the UNITED STATES PATENTS free end of the strap is inserted and fixed. 520,373 5/1894 McClure ..24/ 193 1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED UHZ? 1972 3.672.007

SHEET 10F 2 INVENTOR$ Addlberto STEINBERG, Silvio RICCO SLIDER BUCKLE FOR STRAPS AND THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to widen the range of buckles used up to now, by providing a buckle for straps of a new type, which is of lower cost, more simple manufacture and greater reliability than conventional buckles.

These objects and others which will better appear hereinafter are attained by a buckle for straps and the like with a first member defining a slit for inserting the strap into the buckle, a second member comprising means for fixing the buckle to an article of clothing or to another part of the strap, a third through member for the strap and a fourth member of lip form which cooperates with the first member and forms with it a self locking tightener for the strap inserted therein, characterized in that said second, third and fourth members are integral with a basic body of the buckle defining hinge means, the axis of said hinge means being arranged substantially parallel to the active edge of said lip and at a distance from it which permits the tension of the strap to transmit a moment to the said first hinged member, pushing the active part of said first member towards said lip member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further characteristics and advantages will be evident from the detailed description of a buckle for straps and the like according to the invention, illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of the buckle according to the invention; I

FIG. 2 shows the basic members which form the buckle;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the buckle in operation through a plane of longitudinal symmetry; I

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of he buckle;

FIG. IA is a perspective view of a buckle according to the invention,

FIG. 2A is a perspective viewof the basic members whic form the buckle of FIG. IA;

FIGS. 3A, 4A are a lateral sectional view. of the buckle shown in FIG. 1A through a plane of longitudinal symmetry, in two positions of use respectively.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to FIGS. 1-4, the buckle according to the invention is made starting from a single flat plate-like shaped member I by bending some of its parts about bending lines extending'transverse to the longitudinal extension of the plate member I, as is clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The said plate member 1 comprises an upper tang-like end portion 7' and a lower strap clamping end portion 2 opposite thereto, which has a fastening means in the form of a channel-like passage 2 through which the fixed end of the strap 3 is inserted, and locked there for example by clamping. A portion of the plate 1 is bent back on itself or folded over, forming a bend having at the bending zone an edge or tip or lip 4 provided with milling 5, so as to define along said lip 4 some teeth which reinforce the locking action on the strap, as will be seen hereinafter, The bend made of the portion bent back on itself defines two sections la and lb facing each other, of which the lower section In of the plate I is curved so as to form a V-like hinging seat 6 developed transversal to the plate and parallel to the lip 4. The upper stretch or slightly arcuated portion lb of the folded over portion of basic plate 1 is upwardly bent at its terminal part and in this raised zone there is a slit 7 which acts as a loop member for the strap.

An annular member 8 of sensibly rectangular conformation and with rounded corners is held by one of its larger sides between the two stretches 1a and lb of the plate I forming the body of the buckle. More precisely the ring 8 is held in the V- like seat 6 so that the ring is hinged with respect to the remaining part of the buckle.

Depressions 9 formed on the two sides of the ring 8 parallel with the longitudinal development of the buckle permit the ring to lie with its transversal sides 10a, 10b practically coplanar with the lip 4.

FIG. 4 shows the buckle of FIGS. l-3 in which the fixing of the strap 3 is obtained by a rivet 11 or the like, instead of by clamping inside the passage 2.

As can be seen, the strap is made to pass between the side 10a of the ring 8 and the lip 4 of the buckle, and after folding around said lip is inserted into the slit 7 forming part of the body of the buckle 1. This guarantees that the strap is firmly held in any position and condition of use, contrary to that which happens in the case of other types of buckle. In fact the particular structure of the buckle in combination with the fact that the hinging axis of the side 10b is separated from the edge 4, means that the tension of the strap transmits a moment to the ring 8, pressing it and maintaining it in the plane of the lip -4 and in this manner locking the strap. In order to withdraw the strap it is sufiicient to rotate the ring 8 about the side 10b, in the hinging seat 6, by which means the strap can easily slide into the larger space left between the side 10a and the lip 4.

A buckle of the slider type is thus obtained of extremely simple structure, without any complex mechanisms for mutual sliding between the various constituent parts, and of general use.

FIGS. lA-4A show a slider buckle.

This buckle is obtained starting from a plate-like shaped member generically indicated by the reference numeral 12 (FIG. 2A), comprising an extremity or end 13 provided with a through bore 14 for fixing to a strap 16, for example by means of a rivet 15. The other extremity or end 17 of said shaped plate-like member 12 is of essentially semi-circular conformation, with its convex part facing outwards, and centrally provided with a through window 18, which gives said extremity 17 an annular conformation comprising a curved section 17a and a straight section 17b which essentially constitutes a brace for said plate-like member 12. The curved section 17a constitutes dow 19a.

FIG. 2A shows the other basic member 20 for the formation of the buckle according to the invention. This member 20 is of annular elliptical elongated conformation and is provided eccentrically with a strip 21 which defines the adjacent through windows 22 and 23. In said through window 23 and longitudinally to the annular plate-like member 20, a plate-like section 24 is developed starting from said strip 21, while in the through window 22 there is the plate-like section 25 starting from the strip 21. 1

In order to obtain the buckle shown in FIG. 1A, the platelike section 24 of the member 20 is bent upwards along the line 24a, and a section 20a of the member 20 which surrounds the window 23 is also bent upwards. (FIGS. 1A, 3A, 4A). The plate-like section 25 of the member 20 is also bent upwards forming a lip for locking the strap, in cooperation with the counterpart 17a of the member 12. The member 12 is superimposed on the member 20 after this manipulation. Through the bent section 20, which defines the passage for the strap, the extremity or end 13 of the member 12 is inserted l2 and afterwards is further bent backwards in the form of a U about the cross-piece 17b of said plate-like member 12. By this bending in the form of a U, the plate-like section 24 defines a seat in which said cross-piece 17b can slide, while the transversal edges of said U constitute in practice stops for limiting said sliding. Further the plate-like section 24 has a transversal dimension essentially equal to the transversal dimension of the through window 19a in which it is inserted, because of which the longitudinal edges of said window constitute in practice guides for the sliding of the member 20 with respect to the member 12. Obviously the sequence of stages described in the foregoing is given by way of example, the assembly of the basic plate-like members 12 and 20 in order to obtain the buckle being also possible by some completely different sequence more in line with actual manufacturing requirements.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, after having positioned the buckle so that the through windows 18 and 22 of the member 12 and member 20 respectively are superimposed (cross-piece 17b in contact with the transversal front edge of the U 24), the strap 26 is inserted into said superimposed windows and successively into the passage 20a. At this point any tension which would tend to withdraw the strap causes sliding of the member 20 towards the left (FIG. 4A) with consequent locking of the strap between the counterpart 17a and the lip 25.

We claim:

1. A two-piece buckle for straps or the like comprising in combination an elongated plate member having a tang-like end portion and a strap clamping end portion opposite thereto and a plurality of portions between said tang-like end and said strap clamping end bent about bending lines extending transverse to the longitudinal extension of said plate member and forming a bend made of a portion bent back on itself, thereby to provide two sections of said plate member facing each other at least along a part of their extension, a substantially rectangular ring having one side thereof hingedly connected with said elongated plate and an opposite strap engaging side, said bent portions including:

a V-like seat in one of said sections of said plate member for hingedly receiving therein said ring side, said seat being arranged between said bend and said strap clamping end portion,

an edge of said bend in the form of a toothed clamping lip adapted to clamp a portion of said strap slipped-in between said lip and said strap engaging side of said ring when said ring is in its clamping position, a slightly arcuated portion in the other of said sections extending between said edge and said tang-like end portion and covering said seat for preventing slipping out therefrom of said ring side received in said seat, a loop portion integral with and extending upwardly from the end of said slightly arcuated portion opposite to said edge at a distance from said tang-like portion, said loop portion having a loop aperture extending above and transverse to said slightly arcuated portion thereby to allow passage therethrough of a strap portion slipped-in lengthwise along the buckle. 

1. A two-piece buckle for straps or the like comprising in combination an elongated plate member having a tang-like end portion and a strap clamping end portion opposite thereto and a plurality of portions between said tang-like end and said strap clamping end bent about bending lines extending transverse to the longitudinal extension of said plate member and forming a bend made of a portion bent back on itself, thereby to provide two sections of said plate member facing each other at least along a part of their extension, a substantially rectangular ring having one side thereof hingedly connected with said elongated plate and an opposite strap engaging side, said bent portions including: a V-like seat in one of said sections of said plate member for hingedly receiving therein said ring side, said seat being arranged between said bend and said strap clamping end portion, an edge of said bend in the form of a toothed clamping lip adapted to clamp a portion of said strap slipped-in between said lip and said strap engaging side of said ring when said ring is in its clamping position, a slightly arcuated portion in the other of said sections extending between said edge and said tang-like end portion and covering said seat for preventing slipping out therefrom of said ring side received in said seat, a loop portion integral with and extending upwardly from the end of said slightly arcuated portion opposite to said edge at a distance from said tang-like portion, said loop portion having a loop aperture extending above and transverse to said slightly arcuated portiOn thereby to allow passage therethrough of a strap portion slipped-in lengthwise along the buckle. 